Keeping a Clean Car

Trash and other stuff has a way of being left in the car. Amy has been able to keep her car cleaner by having a “grab your stuff” rule.

“Before you just jump out and run in the house you have to grab your stuff. I was sick of finding cups, juice boxes or the missing glove in my car. So now at least when we’re rushing off to the next activity at least I’m not jumping in to a messy car.

And I always use carpool wait times as an opportunity to straighten out my purse. ”

Comments

This is a problem my husband and I have with our car. It’s a mess. It doesn’t take long after we’ve cleaned it for it to become messy again. I think it has to do with our ‘flat surface mold’ problem or at least that is what we call it. Where ever there is a flat surface, be it in our house or in this instance our car it “molds”, meaning we put things on it. I think having a plastic grocery sack to use as a trash bag will work for keeping our car clean. And I like the idea of always taking your stuff with you when you leave the car.

We have always been terrible at keeping our vehicles clean. A while back we bought a new van and decided to keep it clean. We do try to grab our stuff whenever we get out, and that helps a lot. Then whenever we go through the car wash we quickly pick up anything that was left in the van. When we enter the wash, I pull out some wipes from the glovebox for everyone in the vehicle. We all wipe down the interior until the wash completes. Works amazing for keeping the car clean, we then toss the used wipes into a small waste basket we keep for that purpose. The other thing that helps is that every time we fill with gas we throw away all the trash in the van while waiting for the tank to fill. Works like a charm. Good luck!

Grab your stuff and the wipes (esp Windex for windows) etc work well….I think the biggest thing for me was deciding to treat my vehicle essentially like another room in my house. I wouldn’t just let garbage hang around in the house (think raisins in the seats) and if the house windows were anything like the van’s….I would WASH them. After all, even though it really isn’t a room in my house, I spend more time in the car than in many of the rooms in my house…it should be reasonably clean.